A heartfelt letter to Rep. Elijah Cummings

I do hope that this greeting finds you well, and your blood pressure back to normal levels. I am writing you because I would like to address your recent verbal release on Rep. Darrell Issa. While there have been many that have criticized you for standing up to the ridiculous antics of Mr. Issa, and those who foolishly follow him because they have somehow convinced themselves that any conspiracy theory that he manages to dream up in that very disturbed, maniacal, and twisted little mind of his actually makes sense; I, sir applaud you.

You, sir, have had the courage to stand up for the American people. Even more importantly, Rep. Cummings, you stood up for BLACK and brown people all over this country when you said, “I am a member of the Congress of the United States of America! I am tired of this.” I do believe that I speak for myself as well as the millions of African Americans, Latino Americans, Native Americans, and Chinese Americans when I say that we have been tired of the nonsense and tomfoolery that has gone on in that legislative deathtrap that we know as Washington, D.C..

Specifically, if you really want to get down to the grit and the grind of it all, and if there is any confusion as to just exactly what it is that we the true patriots of America are sick and tired of, let me clear things up for you and the rest of your colleagues on both sides of the aisle. We are tired of the disrespect of our President. Never before has any American president been treated with the level of disrespect that President Obama has been subjected to.

From the attacks on the President regarding whether or not he is a true American, to South Carolina’s finest Rep. Joe Wilson calling him a liar during a State of the Union Address, the level of blatant disregard and hatred of our President, and frankly anyone that dares to be born with any level of pigmentation in his or her skin whatsoever, has been beyond the pale.

Within the last five years we have seen it all, and to say that what we the people of this country have been through as we have had to stand by and watch our leaders endure, has been exacerbating, would perhaps be the biggest understatement ever made. We have seen Congressional leaders be spat upon, we have watched as Darrel Issa and his friends manufactured one ridiculous conspiracy after the other. We have listened as Grover Norquist asserted that he would use the United States Congress to keep the President on a leash, and we have watched in sheer disgust, and were appalled as a Confederate flag was unfolded and hurled in front of the White House.

The thing that has been the hardest for most of us to come to terms with, is why is it so hard for members of Congress to call out what is actually happening in this country right now for what it is. Not enough of you appear to have the courage to call out racism for what it is. Racism is not the pink elephant in the room, and it is beyond time that we stop concerning ourselves with who might be made to feel uncomfortable if we dare to call them and any of their little dirty little deeds racist. Racism is a malignant cancer that is causing the United States of America to die a slow and painful death.

Here is a message from the American population whose ancestors befriended those who sailed over to this land on a ship that we know today as the Mayflower only to be betrayed, and those who were captured like schools of fish in nets, packed into the bowels of the Good Ship Jesus like cargo shipments, and forced to work in fields of cotton, tobacco, and indigo, those who were forced to build this country’s railroad system; those who survived the Holocaust, and all of those who currently work in our fields, on top of our houses, yet have to cower in fear of deportation, we say to you and all of your Congressional counterparts, we are America, and we are tired of being uncomfortable.

We are uncomfortable every time we turn on our television screens to learn that another Trayvon Martin or another Jordan Davis is dead because someone with personal biases, and a disdain for BLACK and brown people believes that he has the right to take a life without repercussions, because of a law that was created by some who are against equal justice. We are uncomfortable each time we hear of a mass shooting, like the one at Sandy Hook, we are uncomfortable and tired of watching helplessly as our elected leadership allows a handful of people to use the money that they have made off of the backs of others to influence the outcomes of our elections, and manipulate the political system so that they can fill our state legislatures with people who propose and ultimately pass laws like the Stand Your Ground law.

So I say to you Rep. Cummings, I do hope that you will continue to speak out loudly, and I do applaud you for accepting Daryl Issa’s apology, but accept it with the understanding that as a good Christian you must do so, but just as Jesus Christ was aware of the fact that Judas would one day betray him, you also need to remember that a snake is always going to be a snake.